The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the whole film industry, and the Istanbul Film Festival is no exception. Its 39^th edition was planned to run from 10-21 April, but the event has been postponed. However, the 15^th edition of Meetings on the Bridge (MoB), the international co-production and networking strand of the gathering, is altering its format and going digital. Training of the participants has already started online, and MoB itself will run on the internet from 15-17 April.

As at previous editions, MoB will showcase 18 projects and eight films from Turkey and its neighbouring countries in three main sections: Film Development Workshop, Work in Progress and Neighbours Platform. Also, for the first time ever, a TV series project and a book adaptation are being included in the selection.

In the Film Development Workshop, 11 projects – ten fiction films and one documentary – chosen from among over 110 submissions will be competing for the Meetings on the Bridge Award, the CNC Award and the newly introduced TRT Special Award, with contributions from the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation.

Some of the highlights of the selection are the upcoming features by Ali Vatansever, who previously presented his sophomore film, the Toronto Discovery-premiered Saf [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Ali Vatansever
fiche film], at MoB; Emre Akay, whose sophomore effort The Hunt also partook in MoB’s Development Workshop; Melisa Önel, whose debut, Seaburners, premiered in the Berlinale Forum; and Ziya Demirel, who will present his debut feature, Ela and Hilmi & Ali, in the WIP section and is also coming along clutching his sophomore project. Also, Sinan Öztürk is presenting the adaptation of the fiction bestseller Blood and Rose, written by Alper Canıgüz, while first-time directors Emre Sert, Gözde Yetişkin and Ozan Yoleri, who have won awards with their short films, round off the selection.

The full list of selected Film Development Workshop projects is as follows:

Agony – Ali Vatansever
Producers: Selin Vatansever, Oya Özden (Terminal Film)

Blood and Rose – Sinan Öztürk
Producer: Yamaç Okur (Ay Yapım)

Eternal Flame – Emre Akay
Producer: Ali Özgür Baltacı (Emre Akay Films)

Grace – Emre Sert, Gözde Yetişkin
Producers: Suzan Güverte, Şebnem Kitiş (Ptot Film, Güverte Film, Emre & Gözde Film)

One of Those Creatures – Ali Özkul (documentary)
Producers: Ceylan Özgün Özçelik, Fırat Sezgin (EHY Film Production, Institute of Time)

Pastoral – Michael Önder
Producer: Joseph Erçelik Amado (Bluff Films)

Peekaboo – Aysim Türkmen
Producer: Nesra Gürbüz (Monomit Films)

Suddenly – Melisa Önel
Producer: Alara Hamamcıoğlu (Vigo Film)

This Beautiful Night – Ozan Yoleri
Producers: Arda Çiltepe, Ilgın Coşar (Vigo Film)

Treasure – Salih Demir
Producer: Çekdar Erkıran (Layen Film)

Two Eyeds – Ziya Demirel
Producer: Anna Maria Aslanoğlu (İstos Film)

Also, for the first time in Turkey, MoB is including a drama series project and a book in its selection. Shadow Hotel, written by Hakan Bıçakçı, Ramin Matin and Emine Yıldırım, is the inaugural series in this section, while the novel Istanbul Istanbul by award-winning author Burhan Sönmez will be introduced and presented by Kalem Agency.

For the ninth edition of the MoB Work in Progress section, eight Turkish projects (seven fictions and one documentary) at the post-production stage will be presented online to film professionals. All of the films are debut features, and some of the directors are Ziya Demirel, Selman Nacar (the co-producer of Belonging [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Burak Çevik
fiche film]), Antalya Film Forum winners Ferit Karol and Cem Özay, and Nazlı Elif Durlu, who has already travelled with her project and has been awarded at various industry markets. Furthermore, Azeri filmmaker Ilgar Najaf (Pomegranate Orchard [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film]) is the only filmmaker participating in the Work in Progress Neighbours section.

The Work in Progress selection is as follows:

Between Two Dawns [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Selman Nacar
fiche film] – Selman Nacar
Producers: Burak Çevik, Diloy Gülün (Kuyu Film, Karma Film)

Ela and Hilmi & Ali – Ziya Demirel
Producer: Anna Maria Aslanoğlu (İstos Film)

Foregiveness – Cem Özay
Producers: Cem Özay, Ömür Güner (ABC Film)

Ghosts [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] – Azra Deniz Okyay
Producer: Dilek Aydın (Heimatlos Films)

Penny Bank – Ferit Karol
Producer: Nefes Polat (Nefes Films)

Whitewash – Ahmet Necdet Çopur
Producers: Anke Petersen, Delphine Morel, Nadir Öperli (Jyoti Films, TS Productions, Liman Film)

Zuhal [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] – Nazlı Elif Durlu
Producer: Anna Maria Aslanoğlu (İstos Film)

Sughra and Her Sons – Ilgar Najaf (Azerbaijan) – Work in Progress Neighbours
Producer: Ilgar Najaf (Buta Film)

Finally, the Neighbours Platform will present eight feature-film projects originating from Turkey’s neighbouring countries – Armenia, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Kazakhstan, Lebanon and Romania. Among the projects competing are the upcoming features by Romanian filmmaker Andrei Creţulescu (Charleston [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Andrei Creţulescu
fiche film]), Armenian director Lévon Minasian (Bravo, Virtuose [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film]), Kazakhstan’s Olga Korotko (A So-So Winter), Georgian filmmaker and MIDPOINT Feature Launch participant Konstantine Kalandadze (see the news), Georgia’s Levan Lomjaria and Greece’s Yorgos Teltzidis (both of the latter first-time filmmakers).

The Neighbours Platform projects are as follows:

Crickets, It's Your Turn [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Olga Korotko
fiche film] (working title: A Pair of Leather Clogs) – Olga Korotko (Kazakhstan/France)
Producer: Etienne de Ricaud (Caractères Productions)

Chronicle of a Winter: Tehran 1979 – Sahar Salahshoori, Bahar Shoghi (Iran)
Producer: Mina Kesheveraz

Grey Skies – Konstantine Kalandadze (Georgia)
Producers: Gary Crenner, Elene Margvelashvili (Chezville, Paraschute Films)

Ext. Car. Night – Andrei Cretulescu (Romania)
Producer: Cristian Nicolescu (Digital Cube)

Maad – Hussen Ibraheem (Lebanon)
Producers: Tania El-Khoury, Lara Abou Saifan (Placeless Films)

Pearl Tears – Levon Minasian (Armenia/France)
Producers: Ani Vorskanyan, Robert Guediguian, Marc Bordure (anEva Production, Agat Films)

Woof – Yorgos Teltzidis (Greece)

You Look Like Your Father – Levan Lomjaria (Georgia)
Producer: Vaku Kirkitadze (Georgian Film Cluster)